Villa Diodati - A NiaD writing event

This October we’re hosting a different kind of writing event

The summer of 1816 was unseasonably wet and miserable. A near bankrupt, scandal-plagued Lord Byron had fled England and was staying at a villa near Lake Geneva with his personal physician, John, and their new friends Percy and Mary. The relentless deluge kept them indoors, so they passed the time reading ghost stories to each other from a collection of magazines that came with the house. When those ran out, Byron suggested they have a competition to each write a ghost story.

John wrote “The Vampyre”, the first modern vampire tale that went on to inspire Bram Stoker and spawn countless toothy progeny across the following centuries. For her contribution to the game, the 18 year old Mary Godwin crafted a tale that proved to be one of the most imaginative psychological ghost stories ever written, and in the process single-handedly invented Science Fiction. Before it was published, Mary and Percy got married and she changed her last name to Shelley…

Villa Diodati

Different from our usual NiaD approach, we’re running an event inspired by the Year Without Summer that changed fiction forever - and would love you to take part!

Participants will submit an original ghost story which we’ll be publishing in a collection that will be released in the usual formats — ePub, Mobi, PDF and, of course, as a Scrivener project.

You won’t be following a set brief (other than the genre), although over the next few days and weeks we will be providing a set of prompts and suggestions that you can use for idea generation if you wish… or ignore if you don’t! And to be clear — by “ghost story”, we mean literally anything inspired by that prompt, be it spooky, scary, sweet or sassy; horrifying, hilarious, heartwarming or, erm… hinteresting?!

When is this taking place?

The deadline for submissions is midnight (UK time) on the evening of Sunday 27th October, and we’ll make a bit of a community event around the deadline weekend (26/27th, just before Hallowe’en) in much the same way that we normally do on “NiaD Saturday”, whether you’re spending that weekend drafting, or just using it to give your story one last edit (although, feel free to submit any time before the deadline weekend and simply heckle!).

The completed collection will then be given a generous dose of Scrivener magic to create a lovely finished product that we’ll publish later that week in time to enjoy for Hallowe’en.

How do I sign up?

The event is live, RIGHT NOW. You can start planning and writing immediately. All that we ask is that you sign up for a forum account (if you’re not already a member), and post here to let us know that you’re taking part so we can add your name to the list.

Once you sign up, you’ll be sent a copy of the various prompts (this will come out over the next few days)… which, again, you are free to use or completely ignore! — and remember: the normal rules of NiaD plot secrecy don’t apply, so you’re encouraged to share how things are going and make a bit of a community around the event throughout the month!

Any other rules / guidelines?

You will retain all the copyright in your submission and are free to use it elsewhere as you see fit. By submitting you are confirming that you are the author of the work and hold the copyright and that you grant an irrevocable perpetual licence to Literature and Latte and Novel in a Day to include the work in the Villa Diodati publications.

The maximum word count is a generous 3,000 words. There is no minimum word count; if you can tell a unique and original ghost story in just a haiku — that’s absolutely fine by us!

More details on submission formats and where to send your finished piece will be in the pack being sent to people after they’ve signed up.

13 Likes

The following people have signed up so far:

:heavy_minus_sign: AmberV
:heavy_minus_sign: auxbuss
:heavy_minus_sign: Calkate
:heavy_minus_sign: Camy
:heavy_minus_sign: CeramicFairy
:heavy_minus_sign: ClaireWoodier
:heavy_minus_sign: ConradG :sparkles:
:heavy_minus_sign: Daurmith
:heavy_minus_sign: deekayoh
:heavy_minus_sign: Dr_Wombat
:heavy_minus_sign: Evil_Overlord
:heavy_minus_sign: FleetAdmiralO
:medal_sports: gr
:heavy_minus_sign: GraceK
:medal_sports: homeport
:medal_sports: Jaysen
:heavy_minus_sign: jdw
:heavy_minus_sign: joelglover
:heavy_minus_sign: katlovergilpin
:heavy_minus_sign: kirtvee
:heavy_minus_sign: MaelduinTamhlacht
:heavy_minus_sign: Mara_writes
:heavy_minus_sign: maximumsparrow
:heavy_minus_sign: MsRestless
:medal_sports: nom
:heavy_minus_sign: OolonColoophid
:heavy_minus_sign: oof_itsalice
:medal_sports: pete340
:troll: pigfender
:heavy_minus_sign: Rimfrost
:heavy_minus_sign: RonjoI :sparkles:
:heavy_minus_sign: RuthS
:heavy_minus_sign: Shadowspawn
:heavy_minus_sign: SheilaWrote
:heavy_minus_sign: Shift
:heavy_minus_sign: ViktorSirin
:heavy_minus_sign: ZarahElouisRo
:heavy_minus_sign: zikade

Makes 38!

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We should have a separate contest for Haiku versions!
For sale. Baby shoes.
Unused, yet move by themselves
On rainy mornings.

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Hell yeah count me in!

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Count me in, please, PF.

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Excellent idea! You are hereby awarded the Haiku sparkle!!!

Awesome choice thank you

Wait… You aren’t forcing me to avoid pirate, dolphins and rum, and you aren’t making me do it in 3hr? And the only restrictions are “ghost” and don’t go over 3k words?

I don’t think I can do this. I’ll need to get Mrs * to set some restrictions so I know what to do!

Pretty much. Bonus points if you, like Mary Shelley, invent a whole new genre in the process.

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Yay! Very excited for this. Count me in! :ghost:

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Googles “how to write a ghost story”…

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I’ll send you some stuff later this week!!

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Huzzah! Count me in good sir!

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Does a Lovecraftian cult count as a ghost story or is it too… different?

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It ABSOLUTELY counts!
:octopus:

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Well, I consulted my ghostwriter and, after a certain amount of wailing and rattling of chains, we have come to an agreement. Please count me in.

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In honour of @ConradG’s excellent suggestion…

Frankenstein (the Haiku version)

It lives! What horror
have I unleashed on the world?!
My child; monster. Aaaargh!

{Pro tip for ghost story haiku: if in doubt, “aaargh” can be used to fill an emergency syllable gap at pretty much any point!}

[EDITED to change some really quite appallingly bad syllable counting in the first draft!]

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In
I’m going to do a Swords and Sorcery summoning thing. I’m excited about it.

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I shall throw my name in as well, thanks

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I’ve had the concept of a ghost story sitting around for a few years, so this is the kick I needed to finally sit down and write it.

2 Likes